RUNNING AHEAD Several young athletes win big at state track meet. Page 14
NEWS | Group hopes to keep talking about health care. [3] COMMUNITY | County to hold meeting on new guardrails. [10] COMMENTARY | Tips for sharing [6] the road this summer.
ONE-WOMAN SHOW Local performer looks for laughs with a new work. Page 12
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 22
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
DoVE sees growing demand for services Director believes more domestic violence victims are aware of the nonprofit By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
Vashon’s anti-domestic violence program has seen its number of clients grow significantly this year, prompting organizers to beef up fundraising efforts for services they say are critical for many islanders.
The DoVE Project — short for Domestic Violence Ending — will hold a fundraiser at Saucy Sisters Pizza next Tuesday, when a portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to the nonprofit. “It’s not that the problem is getting worse, it’s that more people are hearing about DoVE and coming to talk to us and getting the support we provide,” said Elizabeth Archambault, who became the organization’s executive director earlier this year. “Because of that, we would also like to ask for community support.” DoVE was founded a little over two years
ago, filling a void left after a Tukwila-based program, DAWN, pulled its Vashon services in 2009. Partnering with Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS), DoVE doubled its number of clients between 2011 and 2012, providing a crisis hotline, survivor support groups, one-onone support and safety planning for victims, as well as assistance with emergency housing, childcare and legal needs. The organization is on its way to more than doubling its clients again in 2013, Archambault SEE DOVE, 5
Mukai event aims to raise awareness Several groups sponsor gathering, say action is needed By NATALIE JOHNSON
REMEMBERING THE FALLEN
Staff Writer
At Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Vashon Cemetery, a large group of islanders gathered to honor and remember military men and women who lost their lives serving the country. American Legion Commander Chris Gaynor says the island’s annual ceremony is a small-town service that has a personal feel. “We all know each other,” he said. “We’re all connected to families who have lost a member.” For more photos and information about the event, see page 13. Paul Chen Photo
New film explores Vashon’s debate over vaccinations By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Madeline Yarkin in the film “Everybody’s Business.”
75¢
Vashon is frequently in the spotlight for the high number of island families that do not fully vaccinate their children, and now the issue has come to the big screen in a documentary that will play on the island this weekend. A discussion with the filmmaker and islanders featured in the film will follow the Sunday screening. “Everybody’s Business,” a film by graduate student Laura Green, focuses not on the science of vaccines, but on how personal choices about whether to vaccinate affect individuals and their relationships
with one another. “I wanted to look at the debate itself and how it affected the community,” Green said. “I wanted to see how you can have this disagreement and still be a community.” In the United States, the film notes, Washington has the highest number of people who choose not vaccinate their children, and in Washington, Vashon has one of the highest “opt-out” rates. Green was working on her master’s degree at the film program at Stanford University and researching potential subjects for a documentary when she SEE FILM, 18
Several organizations concerned about the state of the Mukai farmhouse and garden hope a large gathering outside the historic site this weekend will help draw attention to the property, which they say is not being properly preserved. “The whole place, I think, is in danger of falling apart eventually,” said Bruce Haulman, a board member of Friends of Mukai, the group spearheading efforts to see the property revitalized and a sponsor of this weekend’s event. “(Organizations) have done this with other properties around the state. It’s been very significant to get local focus on what the issues are and spur movement to get the property preserved,” he said. Meanwhile, Mary Matthews, director of Island Landmarks, the nonprofit that owns the farmhouse, said she, too, will be at the site on Saturday to open the grounds to visitors, tell Island Landmarks’ side of the story and recruit new members to the nonprofit. She’s currently creating a handout to make available that she said refutes some of the Friends of Mukai’s claims, and she’s planning a three-day open house for the following weekend, when the house will be opened to visitors. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation that’s been said to the public about what’s going on there, our objectives and the past,” Matthews said. The event, called This Place Matters — Stand Up for Mukai, SEE MUKAI, 19